Prof. dr. Kees Waaldijk

Position:
  • Professor of Comparative Sexual Orientation Law
Expertise:
  • Sexual orientation law
  • Gay/lesbian partnership
  • Discrimination
  • Comparative law


Telephone number: +31 (0)70 800 9593
E-Mail: c.waaldijk@law.leidenuniv.nl
Faculty / Department: Faculteit Rechtsgeleerdheid, Instituut voor Publiekrecht, Internationaal Publiekrecht
Office Address: Stichthage
Koningin Julianaplein 10
2595 AA Den Haag
Room number 12.44
Personal Homepage: www.law.leidenuniv.nl/​waaldijk

Course

In April/May 2013, and again in the Fall of 2013, Kees Waaldijk will be teaching the course Comparative Sexual Orientation Law at Leiden University's Campus in The Hague. The course looks at how homosexual behaviour, lesbian and gay individuals, and same-sex relationships are being recognised (or not) in the laws of different countries and different international organisations. This course is primarily aimed at third year law students from many countries, but also students from other disciplines are very welcome. Registration is free for students enrolled at any Dutch university (including exchange students). See the course description in the E-prospectus.

 

Publications

Kees Waaldijk is the author of the article ‘Same-Sex Partnership, International Protection'  in the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law , and of many other journal articles and book chapters (in many languages) on legal aspects of sexual orientation, discrimination, and same-sex partnership and parenting.

He also co-authored several books, including:

His doctoral thesis (1994) is about The Legislature’s Duties to Give Reasons.


See also his chronological list of publications since 1996 or the following four systematic overviews of his publications since 1981:

Research and information on sexual orientation law

Via this website Kees Waaldijk has been providing occasional news and information about research and developments in the field of sexual orientation law, see:

Curriculum vitae

Kees Waaldijk (1958) is professor of Comparative Sexual Orientation Law at the Leiden Law School at Leiden University, The Netherlands.

In 1982 he obtained his Masters Degree in Law at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands. From 1982 until 1995 he taught Public Law and Legal Skills at the University of Maastricht, The Netherlands, where in 1994 he obtained his Doctoral Degree, with the thesis Motiveringsplichten van de wetgever (The Legislature's Duties to Give Reasons, with summaries in English and French).

Since 1996 he works for Leiden University (until 2000 as a lecturer in jurisprudence, and from 1999 to 2001 as the coordinator of the evening programme in law at the university's campus in The Hague). From 1987 until 1998 he was also part-time working for the Univerisity of Utrecht, The Netherlands, first as researcher and lecturer in the Department of Gay and Lesbian Studies, later as researcher at the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights. He has been teaching courses on Sexual Orientation Law, as well as post-graduate courses in Legislative Drafting and in Family Law, at various universities. In 1989 he spent a year in the United Kingdom, first as a senior visiting research fellow at the University of Edinburgh (Leverhulme grant), and then teaching British Constitutional Law at the University of Lancaster (ERASMUS staff exchange). From February to June 2000 he was visiting professor at Hastings College of the Law, University of California, San Francisco, teaching the course 'Human Rights Law in Europe - as applied to family, immigration and sexual orientation' (Leiden-Hastings exchange programme).

From December 2000 to March 2011 Kees Waaldijk was Head of PhD Studies. In that capacity he was responsible for the PhD programme at the Leiden Law School, acted as coach and adviser of the PhD-candidates, and organized their evaluations. He advised both the Research Board and the Faculty Board on matters relating to the PhD candidates and their training, monitored the progress of PhD research, and taught on research methodology in law.

Since May 2011 Kees Waaldijk is holder of Leiden University's new chair in Comparative Sexual Orientation Law. This sponsored chair, unique for Europe, is part of Leiden Law School's Grotius Centre of International Legal Studies, at Leiden University's Campus in The Hague.

He has been acting as a formal and informal adviser on law & homosexuality to numerous individuals, organisations, lawyers and politicians, and has had an active role in several test cases and legislative lobbies. He was a delegate to the International Lesbian and Gay Association (1987/93), a member of the Dutch Government's Commission of legal experts advising on the opening up of civil marriage to same-sex couples (1996/97), and a member of the Dutch Council for Family Affairs (1994/99). From 1999 to 2007 he was one of the editors of the annual collection of opinions of the Dutch Equal Treatment Commission. He has been advising on evaluation studies commissioned by the Dutch government about the workings of the General Equal Treatment Act (1999), of the Law on Registered Partnership (1999 and 2006) and of the Law on the Opening Up of Marriage (2006). He is a founding member of the International Lesbian and Gay Law Association and of the European Commission on Sexual Orientation Law. From 2002 to 2004 he coordinated the European Group of Experts on Combating Sexual Orientation Discrimination, which reported to the Commission of the European Communities, about the implementation of the Employment Equality Directive.  

In 2009 Kees Waaldijk was shortlisted for the Dutch Government's bi-annual prize for LGBT emancipation (Jos Brink Homo Emancipatie Prijs)

Web Editors Leiden Law School
Last Modified: 21-03-2013